Election day is only a few days away. Soon election signs will give way to Christmas decorations. Soon we’ll get a new president too, and your parents might long for the days of some other president, perhaps the one we had when we were little. Today Jesus jumps into time and tells us to give God what belongs to God and to the government what belongs to the government.

We humans don’t live by ourselves. We have obligations and people around us. The first thing Jesus talks about is God. What do we owe Him? We often think about our offerings, whether Sunday in church or our mission offerings here in chapel. But we owe Him far more. He wants us to keep His commands. He can ask this of us both because He created us and because His Son Jesus died for us.

Then there’s government. God has given us government to keep the world under control. If we didn’t have laws and rules and punishments, badness would overtake us and we wouldn’t last long. We wouldn’t be protected from bad people and would never feel safe. So we pay our taxes to support government’s work in protecting us, and someday, soon for a few of you, you’ll be able to vote to help decide who will best work for us in government. And we keep the laws to help further good law and order in our land. And we respect those in authority and pray for them.

God has given you government, so pray for it. Pray God to bring our leaders to do what is right and good. Pray that He would bless our region, our state, our nation, our world through them. Pray Him to help you do what is good at all times. But also pray Him to send His Word through all the world. Pray that many more may hear His Word and be saved. Pray that He would always lead you to be sorry for your sins and then that He would always forgive you. For your Lord Jesus died for you to forgive you, to pardon you, to give you everlasting life.